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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 12/1/95 -- Vol. 14, No. 22
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Middletown 5T-415
Wednesdays at noon.
DATE TOPIC
12/06/95 Book: MIDSHIPMAN'S HOPE by David Feintuch
01/03/96 Book: BRICK MOON by Edward Everett Hale ("Steampunk")
01/24/96 Book: THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF by David Gerrold
Outside events:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the second
Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call 201-933-2724 for
details. The New Jersey Science Fiction Society meets on the third
Saturday of every month in Belleville; call 201-432-5965 for details.
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3F-434 908-957-5619 m.r.leeper@att.com
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2E-530 908-957-5087 j.j.jetzt@att.com
HO Co-Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 n.j.sauer@att.com
HO Co-Librarian: Lance Larsen HO 2C-318 908-949-4156 l.f.larsen@att.com
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3F-434 908-957-5619 m.r.leeper@att.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist:
Rob Mitchell MT 2D-536 908-957-6330 r.l.mitchell@att.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-337 908-957-2070 e.c.leeper@att.com
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Of our next discussion book, David Feintuch's MIDSHIPMAN'S
HOPE, Rob Mitchell writes:
An author can be inspired sufficiently by someone else's character
or milieu, to transplant it into the author's own world. When done
well, this transplanting is called an homage to the original
author. When not done well, this transplanting is called a rip-off
of the original. I've not decided yet whether David Feintuch's
MIDSHIPMAN'S HOPE, and the follow-on two books, are homages or
rip-offs of C. S. Forester's HORNBLOWER series.
Horatio Hornblower is the hero of 10.5 (including one uncompleted)
books about a British naval officer at the beginning of the
century--the 19th century. The books detail his adventures and the
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development of his career, from lowly midshipman to Lord High
Admiral, and are renowned for their attention to detail and access
into Hornblower's mind. Hornblower comes across as a honorable and
resourceful individual, even when he believes himself to be
unworthy or desperate. Forester develops Hornblower's character
plausibly, so that even a present-day reader with extensive
knowledge of present-day navies can feel a kinship with Hornblower
and his sailing ships.
The verdict is not so clear with Feintuch's books about his
Captain, Nicholas Seafort. MIDSHIPMAN'S HOPE is the first of four
books (three of which have been published already) about Seafort,
whose resemblance to Hornblower is painfully obvious. All of
Hornblower's self-doubt, inventiveness, and focus on duty are
magnified in Seafort, like a funhouse mirror, so that for long
sections of the books the reader expects to find Seafort
flagellating himself physically as well as mentally. Hornblower at
his worst was never so dreary, and for so long, as Seafort is on
almost every page.
MIDSHIPMAN'S HOPE starts out with Seafort as the senior Midshipman
on a fusion ship destined for a colony settled in a distant star
system. A trip to another star takes on the order of 2-3 years,
during which time the ship is isolated from the rest of the
universe. The Captain of the ship is the ultimate arbiter of life
and death, with power and responsibility unparalleled since the Age
of Sail. A Captain is served by 2-3 Lieutenants, a few officer
specialists (doctor, pilot, engineer), about 4 midshipmen, and a
few dozen crew. The ships themselves are not purely naval vessels,
but are combination cargo and passenger ships, delivering supplies
and new bodies to the distant colonies, and bringing back food and
natural resources to the Solar System.
Due to some fairly imaginative disasters, all senior officers end
up dying and Seafort becomes Captain. Only nineteen years old,
admittedly an inadequate navigator, lacking any respect or
confidence from the passengers or his subordinates, Seafort muddles
through, dealing with mutinies, alien attacks, computer
difficuties, and crew shortages with cleverness and a morbid
refusal to see his own effectiveness. The second and third books
follow the pattern of the first--creative challenges that Seafort
overcomes with plausible but surprising ingenuity, liberally laced
with Seafort whipping himself for screwing things up.
Feintuch postulates an Earth-wide culture run by the United Nations
and based on an official state religion. Evidence suggesting
possible guilt is sufficient grounds for the accused to be
subjected to drug-based interrogation. A great underworld
(literally) exists in the bowels of what once were the major cities
of the world. Such is the culture from which Seafort sprang, and
that in part is how Feintuch justifies Seafort's self-scourging for
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failing to live up to his impossibly high standards. I didn't buy
it--Seafort is much less approachable than Hornblower, and
Feintuch's Navy, which is a reflection of the culture, is an ugly,
unappealing, and unstable Navy that I could not relate to. On the
other hand, the action sequences were exciting and clever, which is
why I read more than the first book. I'll also read the fourth,
when it comes out, but Seafort will not share the special place in
my literary pantheon that Hornblower holds. [-rlm/a.k.a. jrrt]
===================================================================
2. Recently Evelyn pointed out to me a piece in U.S. NEWS & WORLD
REPORT about the release of Michael Crichton's LOST WORLD. They
quoted a statistic that dinosaurs have been featured in about
twenty films. That was the number they came up with. Twenty.
They probably had some editorial guy think all evening of dinosaur
films and then multiplied the number he thought of by two. It was
not a giant career opportunity. I mean, it was not like covering
Bosnia or the Middle East. Suppose you are some hotshot journalism
student getting a job at U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, the Royal Crown
Cola of the news magazine world. And here comes your big break.
"New Guy," they say, "I got a big important assignment for you."
Your pulse races. Your passport is burning a hole in your pocket
and what do they say? "I want you to figure out how many dinosaur
movies there have been." Oh, well. Good-bye, Mr. Pulitzer. What
kind of a job would you expect from the kid? He came up with an
estimate of twenty films featuring dinosaurs and they ran with that
number.
Evelyn figured that had to be a low estimate. Right she is. So
here is our list of fifty-five. It is not exhaustive. In
specific, I have left out a lot of Asian monster movies from
GODZILLA on down. But I got a whole bunch Mr. New Guy missed.
GERTIE THE DINOSAUR (1909)
DINOSAUR AND THE MISSING LINK (1917)
THE GHOST OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN (1919)
THE THREE AGES (1923)
THE LOST WORLD (1925)
KING KONG (1933)
SON OF KONG (1933)
ONE MILLION B.C. (1940)
FANTASIA (1940)
UNKNOWN ISLAND (1948)
TWO LOST WORLDS (1950)
THE LOST CONTINENT (1951)
THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953)
THE ANIMAL WORLD (1955)
KING DINOSAUR (1955)
THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN (1956)
THE LAND UNKNOWN (1957)
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THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959)
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959)
THE LOST WORLD (1960)
DINOSAURUS! (1960)
VALLEY OF THE DRAGONS (1961)
GORGO (1961)
THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE (1966)
ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966)
DINOSAUR ISLAND (1966)
LA ISLA DE LOS DINOSAURIOS (1967)
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME (1967)
JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME (1967)
WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH (1969)
VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969)
OFF ON A COMET (1970)
THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1975)
THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977)
THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977)
THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER (1977)
WHERE TIME BEGAN (1978)
DINOSAUR (1980)
CAVEMAN (1981)
LEGEND OF THE DINOSAURS (1983)
BABY... SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND (1985)
THE LAND BEFORE TIME (1988)
LIVING WITH DINOSAURS (1989)
PLANET OF THE DINOSAURS (1990)
A NYMPHOID BARBARIAN IN DINOSAUR HELL (1991)
ADVENTURES IN DINOSAUR CITY (1992)
THE LOST WORLD (1992)
JURASSIC PARK (1992)
CARNOSAUR (1993)
WE'RE BACK! A DINOSAUR'S STORY (1993)
THE LAND BEFORE TIME II (1994)
THE FLINTSTONES (1994)
RETURN TO THE LOST WORLD (1994)
CARNOSAUR II (1994)
DINOSAUR ISLAND (1994)
[-mrl]
===================================================================
3. TOY STORY (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: TOY STORY is the epitome of Pixar's
computer graphics work to this point: a
feature-length film in which toys come to life
and have adventures. And the humor is
genuinely funny, making this really a family
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film. And the computer graphics are superb.
Pixar makes inanimate objects come to life
well, but they ought to find other ideas for
their stories. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4)
For years one of the more interesting aspects of the annual
tournees of animation was to see the developments in computer
animation. An early example--early meaning 1986--from Pixar was
"Luxo, Jr." in which metal lamps behaved in human ways. Pixar
started life in 1979 as a division of Lucasfilm but became an
independent company in 1986. The Luxo lamps were ideal for early
attempts at computer animation since they were articulated
collections of rigid pieces. Certainly in computer animation rigid
body movement is easier to describe to a program than is the
movement of something soft and pliable. In fact, Pixar has done a
lot of showing toys and other inanimate objects coming to life
since if they come off too rigid it can look like part of the
characterization. With that in mind it is not difficult to
understand why their first feature film is a story in which toys
are the main characters and humans play a relatively small role and
are not the center of attention. Different animation techniques
have different advantages, but TOY STORY is certainly a milestone
in computer animation. Pixar still has to prove that their
animation techniques are more versatile than Will Vinton's clay
animation or the Puppetoons of the 1940s and 1950s. In fact, their
style is very like the results of Puppetoon animation. There is
nothing wrong with what they do here, but they need to be thinking
about how to get more variety in their themes, particularly if they
want to be more than hi-tech Puppetoons.
That said, the film is certainly as watchable for the adults in the
audience as for the children. We are not talking Merchant-Ivory
level here but the adults should appreciate most of what is aimed
at the kids and there is some intelligence in the humor (including
a very nice bit about the origin of religions--hot stuff for a
Disney family film). The story deals with a collection of toys
owned by young Andy. What Andy does not know is that when he is
not watching, the toys come to life and live lives of their own (a
very familiar fantasy theme). Andy's current favorite is Sheriff
Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), but he has just gotten a new toy, Buzz
Lightyear, Space Hero (Tim Allen). Woody is not happy about being
displaced as Andy's favorite for reasons never made clear-perhaps
it's job security. And it does not help that Buzz is not quite
bright enough to realize that he is not the real thing. The
rivalry is watched by the community of toys including tyrannosaurus
Rex (ironically voiced by Wallace Shawn), Mr. Potato Head (Don
Rickles), Slinky Dog (Jim Varney), and Bo Peep (Annie Potts). Just
how Bo Peep got into this collection of Andy's toys is anybody's
guess, but she adds a love interest for Woody. Eventually the
rivalry will get out of hand and will have the two racing to return
home first from the outside world and then from the house of the
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neighbor boy Sid, a budding sociopath with an impressive
imagination when it comes to mutilating toys. One rather nice
touch here is that Disney animations nearly always equate beauty
with goodness and ugliness with evil, but it is not necessarily
true here.
The animation technique used here is extremely good. The attention
to details like reflective surfaces and the play of light and
shadow get better and better with succeeding Pixar productions.
Surface texture still seems to be a problem. Pixar does a sort of
semi-gloss surface very nicely, which may be one reason they do so
much with plastic toys. But the detail and texture they would need
to do realistically a man's arm with hair, for example, is not
really there any place.
Pixar has made a charming movie carrying their current plot
concepts and animation techniques to what appears to be about the
limit. TOY STORY is a lot of fun. Now the important question for
Pixar is what do they do next. This one gets a high +1 on the -4
to +4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
4. FANTASTIC ALICE edited by Margaret Weis (Ace, ISBN 0-441-00253-
6, 1995, 291pp, US$12) (a book review by Evelyn C. Leeper):
This is an anthology of seventeen stories based in some way on
Lewis Carroll's ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND.
Well, I suppose it sounded promising.
I was not encouraged by the fact that the introduction refers to
the original work both as ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and
ALICE IN WONDERLAND. It also describes Lewis Carroll as "the
epitome of the proper Victorian gentleman," a description which I
do not believe squares with his penchant for photographing nude
girls. But the real test, of course, is the stories themselves.
While it would be expecting too much for the stories to equal
Carroll's, I had hoped they would at least capture some of the
spirit (as did Gilbert Adair's ALLICE THROUGHT THE NEEDLE'S EYE a
few years ago). Unfortunately, for the most part they don't. A
couple have as their only connection the fact that they have a
talking Cheshire cat. (In this they are similar to Thomas Disch
and John Sladek's BLACK ALICE, which had a Tenniel illustration on
the cover, but no connection with the Carroll stories.) Others
postulate that Wonderland is some sort of fantasy world bearing
little resemblance to how Carroll described it, or even the
afterlife. And the stories are so downbeat, filled with child
abuse, death, drugs, and so on. I know that's real life, but
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Wonderland was supposed to be an escape from real life. Even the
stories that do seem to be set in the "real" Wonderland are mostly
unsatisfying, their jokes and paradoxes taken straight from Carroll
himself. The one exception to this is Connie Hirsch's "Wonderland
Express," in which Hirsch seems to have come up with *new* wordplay
of the type Carroll used.
One other story that did work was "A Common Night" by Bruce Holland
Rogers, mostly because Rogers did a good job imitating Carroll's
poetry.
But on the whole, FANTASTIC ALICE is a disappointment, and I cannot
recommended it even (or perhaps especially) for fans of the Carroll
works.
I also have a complaint separate from the contents of the book.
For the reader, a trade paperback should offer some advantage over
a mass-market paperback, and should certainly not be worse. Yet
when I left this book in the car for only four hours, the cover
looked like someone had taken a curling iron to it. Other
companies manage to make trade paperbacks that avoid this; I would
hope Ace would too. [-ecl]
===================================================================
5. A MONTH BY THE LAKE (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: There is less going on in A MONTH BY
THE LAKE than meets the eye. This is a very
slight story set in 1937, the last summer of
peace, in the resort area of Lake Como, Italy.
It tells of the romantic conflict of an English
woman and an American who want the same fatuous
man. Not every British period piece film is a
HOWARDS END. Rating: 0 (-4 to +4)
Miss Bentley (played by Vanessa Redgrave) has been coming to Lake
Como for vacation since she was a little girl. When she was young,
many English vacationed in Lake Como, but of late there are few
other English vacationing here. This year she is the only person
from home until a new mystery man arrives. Major Paul Winslow
(Edward Fox) is more boy than man, but Miss Bentley is interested
in the dashing-looking Englishman. But then so is Miss Beaumont
(Uma Thurman), the newly arrived American nanny for an Italian
family. The two compete for Winslow's attentions, Beaumont with
her youth and a seemingly effortless flirtation, Bentley with what
might almost be called a campaign. Against the background of the
pleasant Italian scenery the two play out their game.
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This all sounds like it could be done very broadly and could be
quite funny. Or it could just bask in the sunshine and lovely
natural setting and somehow end up being magical like ENCHANTED
APRIL was. Neither is really the case. Trevor Bentham`s
screenplay, based on the novelette by H. E. Bates leans more toward
understatement. Winslow is such a silly man that one wonders why
the women are trying so hard. Beaumont is young and attractive,
but empty and shallow. The only strong emotion in the film is
Bentley's desperation for the man who may be her last chance ever
to marry. Perhaps buried in this film is an allegory about the
effortless brashness of America and a more serious and more
conflict-bound Europe, but if so, there is not much to the
metaphor. More likely this is just an effort to tell a leisurely
story in a leisurely setting. If the latter it true, it is a
little too much leisure, and the viewer starts looking for the
political conflict that must be present in 1937 Italy. In fact,
for 1937 Italy, the Lake Como area must be among the least
interesting places to be in the country. When Bentley sees a
Fascist parade and nearly gets into serious trouble for
photographing it, the film seems to perk up a bit in the hope that
something of some import will happen. But the moment is quickly
fleeting and the story returns from a battle of ideas to a battle
of flirtations. It is not surprising that more is not made of the
pre-war politics since the original Bates story was set around
1960, or so I have been told.
Director John Irvin is best know recently for his WIDOWS' PEAK, a
film that I found even more predictable than A MONTH BY THE LAKE,
but at least it had a story to predict. Vanessa Redgrave does what
she can with the silly woman she plays, but it cannot have been one
of her favorite roles. I know there are people in the world
someplace who think that Uma Thurman is talented and very
attractive just like I know there are people who think liver and
onions is delicious. It is hard for me to be keen on either.
Going back to A ROOM WITH A VIEW, we have seen quite a few prestige
British period pieces playing the art house circuit. H. E. Bates
is unfortunately no E. M. Forster and A MONTH BY THE LAKE is no
ROOM WITH A VIEW. Rate it a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
6. CASINO (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: Martin Scorsese's story of the rise
and fall of a casino manager is a detailed but
informative and even enthralling three hours.
CASINO chronicles how organized crime lost Las
Vegas, as seen through the eyes of two close
friends appointed by the mob to run the
operation. In spite of strong graphic violence
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this could get the Best Picture Oscar. Rating:
low +3 (-4 to +4)
Following the structure of a classical tragedy, CASINO chronicles
in fascinating detail the rise and fall of Sam "Ace" Rothstein, the
mob-assigned manager of a prestigious Las Vegas casino. Martin
Scorsese co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Pileggi, basing it
on Pileggi's novel. The two previously co-wrote GOODFELLAS, based
on another Pileggi novel. (Pileggi also co-wrote the screenplay
for the upcoming CITY HALL.)
CASINO has an epic length, just short of three hours, and while the
central plot advances slowly the film is filled with the engrossing
details of what is involved with the running of a major casino as
well as telling a complex yet never confusing story.
Ace (played by Robert De Niro) is a consummate gambler who does his
homework for bets in painstaking detail. His skill has earned
enough for the Kansas City Mob that they reward him, a non-Italian
Jew, by letting him manage the Tangiers Casino. This is a position
in which he can get very powerful while becoming very rich. In the
job he really comes into his own as a perfectionist who oversees
all the details, some unsavory, of running the high-profit show.
Ace reluctantly allows his friend since childhood Nick Santoro (Joe
Pesci) to come to Las Vegas and to get involved with the Tangiers.
Ace also falls for a beautiful hustler, Ginger McKenna (Sharon
Stone). Neither turns out to be a good decision. Nick is a loose
cannon thug with a volatile temper. He will do whatever it takes
to get money and power. Even as Ace's power and prestige increase,
the seeds of his downfall are being sown by idealistic but
questionable decisions. Ace's marriage and over-generosity to
Ginger, his trust of the uncontrollable Nick, and his unwillingness
to rehire the incompetent brother-in-law of a local official all
lead to major trouble. As he and Nick narrate, each self-
righteously defends his own actions.
Robert De Niro is fine as Ace, though the character is well within
the range of characters he has played before. Pesci's violent thug
is very much the same character he played in GOODFELLAS though
perhaps with a shorter fuse here and with more of a penchant for
cruelty. The actor who really shows us something new is Sharon
Stone, whose descent into alcohol, cocaine, and rage is her most
effective screen role to date. As an apparent joke, the deeper
addicted Stone gets, the more she is made up to look like Michelle
Pfeiffer. James Woods is around playing his usual slimeball
character. Don Rickles is surprisingly effective in one of his
rare serious roles.
Scorsese's style with this film is fresh and new, though not all of
his touches really work perfectly. The film starts near the
story's end with Ace in a car bombing and blown through a strange
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credit sequence with impressions of the lights of Las Vegas. The
sequence is strange and the floating through of De Niro in what
looks like a car ejection seat is very odd, indeed, almost
reminding one of Fellini. The sequence was created by Elaine and
Saul Bass. Saul Bass was one of the classic credit sequence
designers of the 1960s. Scorsese does use violence more often than
in previous films. And what is there is very strong stuff and is
not for the sensitive. Borrowing a touch from FORREST GUMP, the
film is seasoned with popular music of the 1970s, often as a
commentary on the story.
The whole package is a riveting account and a well-told story.
Though the script does not always play absolutely fair with the
audience, the small cheats help lead to unexpected plot twists. No
film I have seen this year has a better shot at a Best Picture
Academy Award. I give CASINO a low +3 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-
mrl]
===================================================================
7. MIGHTY APHRODITE (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: Even a good director can have an off
film, but MIGHTY APHRODITE is an amazing
misfire for Woody Allen in many different ways.
Most serious of all, the vast majority of the
gags fall embarrassingly flat as if Allen is
starting to have problems judging what is
funny. Rating: -1 (-4 to +4)
MIGHTY APHRODITE is a strange title. I guess the implication is
that love or at least sex is a powerful force in people's lives.
Or perhaps that love conquers all. But the title just does not
seem to be all that clever and in the final analysis it just does
not work very well. That makes it perfect for one of Woody Allen's
rare films that is a nearly complete total misfire. Admittedly, it
is hard to be totally objective about whether a film is funny or
not, but from my point of view the jokes fail one after another.
Perhaps part of the problem is Allen's choosing the motif of the
Greek drama complete with chorus to comment on the action. Somehow
lampooning Greek choruses is an exercise in futility. It worked
with Russian literature in LOVE AND DEATH because he hit many
different aspects of Russian literature and make clear what he was
kidding in each case. Here it is one or two jokes repeated over
and over. One joke is to have the chorus use modern language and
especially Yiddishisms. The other is to have the chorus sing
modern music and it is a very similar gag. Generally Greek
choruses just are not funny and it takes a great deal of skill to
make these jokes funny the first time they are used. When Allen
milks the jokes by using them repeatedly, they fail him in a major
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way.
The story told is of couple Lenny (Woody Allen) and Amanda (Helena
Bonham Carter) who are considering adopting a child. Lenny is a
newspaper sportswriter and plays the role only a little less
believably than he played Jimmy Bond in CASINO ROYALE. Posing him
standing on a basketball court cannot make the New York
intellectual look or sound like a sportswriter. Suddenly the
couple who have applied for a child are given an opportunity to
adopt if they decide to quick, quick, quick. (Is this really how
the adoption process works?) They go with it and get what turns
out to be a great child. But Lenny is obsessed with finding the
child's real mother. The agency has a rule against giving out this
information and, in fact, to do so would be breaking the law. But
in an incredibly contrived scene Lenny gets the illegal
information. Lenny tracks the woman down to find her to be hooker
and porno actress, Linda (Mira Sorvino). Linda has a winning
personality, a losing intellect, and an irritating voice. Getting
interested in the woman's life, Lenny tries to arrange a marriage
for her with a boxer, Kevin (Michael Rapaport), and to bury the
feelings he is starting to have for her.
The jokes in this film are not just unfunny, some verge on mean-
spirited. Among the subject for jest are about how stupid Linda
and Kevin are. Kevin has to ask to find out which is his right
fist and which is the left. It is not very likely and even less
funny. One of the hallmarks of a Woody Allen script is the clever
dialogue. Here the dialogue comes off as neither believable nor
witty. And it is given too important a place. Scenes that would
have major dramatic impact take place off-screen. Prostitute Linda
is freed of her entire unwanted commitment to her pimp, but we
never see her reaction when she is told. A later major scene
between Kevin and Linda we are told about but do not see. Instead
these scenes appear to have been eliminated to allow room for
"witty" dialogue scenes that do not advance the plot and eventually
drag.
The strain of writing, directing, and starring in a film, as he
does here, is starting to show on Allen. Each task is executed
with unexpected mediocrity here. Allen does absolutely nothing to
distinguish his current character from the one he played in
previous films like MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY. Helena Bonham
Carter's role is fairly colorless and is a departure for her only
in that she is not playing an indignant, pouty aristocrat. Mira
Sorvino wins the film on points alone. Her likable prostitute,
with the Liza Doolittle propensity for saying the unintentionally
shocking, steals the show. Ordinarily, stealing a Woody Allen film
is a major distinction. With MIGHTY APHRODITE it seems hardly
worth the effort. Hopefully Allen will be back on form next film.
This one gets an amazing -1 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
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Mark Leeper
MT 3F-434 908-957-5619
m.r.leeper@att.com
Men are the only animals who devote themselves,
day in and day out, to making one another unhappy.
It is an art like any other. Its virtuosi are called
altruists.
--H. L. Mencken